𝐀𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬: “When I’m presenting, I’m thinking, this is a great idea, but they’re going to see this as something that derails an investment that they’ve been considering for another project. And here I am presenting this. It’s a great idea, but it’s not the right time to bring it up. But I don’t even know what, what they’re thinking about there.”

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦, 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. He wasn’t unprepared; he knew the material cold. The issue often lies in the tendency to go into the weeds, overload the slides, and read them back word for word. Staying in the technical detail feels safer than facing the room. The real challenge is that he walks in assuming the worst from the decision makers, placing himself at the bottom of the food chain before anyone in the room has said a word.

If you insist on being at the bottom of the food chain, it’s for one reason: you chose to be there. It’s a mindset, a decision, an attitude. It’s not a given reality. How can you expect your audience to treat you like the expert you are?

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠?